The Canterbury Health System is continuously looking at ways of improving service and the user of those services is the best person to answer how we can do that. We have a number of different ways of gathering feedback to help us “listen to the voice of the consumer”.

When a consumer's experience of our health services doesn't meet their expectations, we want to hear about it. Another way we get feedback on how we can improve the consumer experience of our health care services is through the Canterbury DHB Consumer Council.

The Canterbury DHB Consumer Council was set up in 2008 as a way for consumers to have a strong voice in planning, designing and delivering services in the Canterbury Health System. The Consumer Council's slogan is “Nothing about us, without us”, because we believe health care should always be planned with consumer involvement, right from the beginning.

The consumer council is invited to participate in, and comment on, many of the CDHB initiatives to enhance the patient's experience. It has a regular commitment to the Xcelr8 – the business of caring programme that has been designed to develop our health system leaders. Over the past year this has included consumer input into the development of eSCRV – Electronic clinical information sharing, the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Working Group (PRWG), the development of Advanced Care Plans and participation in the design forum for Burwood Hospital to name just a few.

Council members also sit on most of the Canterbury Clinical Network's Service Level Alliances including the overarching group, the Alliance Leadership Team. These Service Level Alliances are made up of groups of people with expertise in a particular health service. The group works together on ways to improve the way services are provided. This enables consumers to work in partnership with clinicians and health managers at a senior level, to influence the transformational change of our health system.

Consumer Council members

The council is made up of a diverse range of people with ethnic backgrounds and areas of interest that include Māori health, Pacific health, mental health, people with long-term conditions, people with physical, intellectual and sensory disabilities, older people, youth, men,women, rural communities, people with visual and hearing impairment and people with alcohol and other drug addictions.

Meetings attended by Consumer Council representatives

The structure of the Consumer Council

Council members are nominated by consumers and consumer lobby and advocacy groups. Collectively they have a broad range of understanding and experience of how it feels to be a consumer and what consumers need.